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Last Minute May Day (Baskets & Delivery) Tips & Ideas!

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May Day is less than a week away.  But if you really want to touch some hearts and make some older folks in your life feel so unforgotten, this is a wonderful thing to do with your children!  It not only has the potential to teach them a bit of History, but it teaches them about kindness and compassion, as well.  What’s more, it couldn’t be more fun and exciting!  

 

PLANNING YOUR MAY DAY CONTAINERS

    Planning, putting together, and secretly delivering  May Day Baskets, is something we have done with our kids for the past 4 consecutive years, from 2008 – 2011.  Every year, the number of our recipients has grown. It can be done as simply or as involved as you choose, depending on the time or expense you’d like to put into it. While the traditional May baskets years ago were simply filled with wild flowers, picked special just for the recipient, we have really tended to get into the ideas for our basket contents! (Cheap affordable baskets can be found at any low budget department stores, such as Wal*Mart, as well as places like the Christmas Tree Shoppes.)  But you don’t need to.  The thought and fun behind it is not more or less, no matter what you give in the basket. It’s what you give from your heart, to their’s, that matters most.  

    So if just delivering a beautiful bunch of flowers is more the way you’d like to go, here are a couple of other simple container ideas I found on Pinterest:

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Most everyone has some cans in the house!  Wash them out, get rid of any sharp edges, punch some holes in the side and thread with some lovely ribbon or rope for a handle, and fill with flowers!  If you really want to dress it up, create a label of your own.  Consider having your kids make some drawings, and glue them on!

 

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Another idea is the traditional way…..making a simply paper cone.  There are beautiful scrap booking papers in any craft store that you can use.  Add some pretty trim, a handle, and the flowers, and you have a beautiful May Day surprise!

   Today, as we share photos from our baskets over the years throughout this post, we’d also like to share some other tips and ideas, in the hopes that you will be inspired to really make some older folks day!  You must know how much the little things mean to them, and this big surprise they find on their doorstep or door handle will be something that talk about for a long time to come.

 

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WHO WILL RECEIVE YOUR MAY DAY BASKETS?

May Day baskets were typically delivered to older folks years ago (on May Day of course), so this is a tradition they will well remember and appreciate.  Think of what older folks are in your life, who your children might want to deliver to.   Once you determine how many recipients you’ll have, you’ll know how many baskets (or other forms of containers) you’ll need. Some people to consider:

  • Grandparents
  • Older Neighbors
  • Older Folks you know from Church
  • Other Friendly Acquaintances
  • Anyone you suspect could be lonely or need a smile.

Naturally, for doorstep delivery, you’ll need to know where these folks live! Normally, the idea is for the children to sneak up to the door, hang the basket on the doorknob (or place on the porch where the recipient will see it when they open the door), ring the doorbell, and run like the dickens!! With any luck, they’ll get away without being seen, and the recipient will only find a lovely basket of flowers and/or goodies.

     BUT, another very thoughtful idea is to deliver them in person, to random folks in a nursing home.  Many older folks feel quite forgotten at such homes, with few visitors.  Just seeing your children’s faces will feel like such a blessing to them.  Getting flowers and/or other goodies will do their hearts so good. (And yours too!).  This is a great alternative if May Day turns out to be rainy too.   Consider calling a home to let them know you are coming ahead of time, and ask them to put together (your number) of recipients who do not have loved ones to visit them.

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MAY DAY BASKET CONTENTS

If you’ve decided to fill your baskets with goodies beyond wild flowers, here are some content ideas we have used over the years:

  • A Tea Bag Variety
  • Hard Candy (Consider sugar-free for possible diabetics)
  • Baked Goods from your own kitchen (Mini loves, muffins, cookies, cupcakes)
  • Pocket Tissue Packets
  • Prayer Cards
  • Small Short & Uplifting Story Books
  • Cross Word Puzzle Books
  • Tea Biscuits
  • Flowers
  • A scroll explaining the tradition of May Day Basket Delivery (A great time to educate the kids about this tradition)

Basically, anything that fits in the basket!  What creative ideas can you and your kids come up with?

Lining your baskets before filling, is another option.  You can use tissue paper, an open napkin, a cloth napkin, or even a new kitchen dish towel, which is a gift in itself!

 

BASKET TAGS

It’s nice to have a tag attached, that wishes them HAPPY MAY DAY!  That tends to remove any confusion of why the basket was left. They will realize it is May 1st soon enough, and put it all together. (And them SMILE, no doubt!)   Whether you sign your tag or not is up to you. Sometimes there is concern that the recipients will be frightened, or be afraid to eat the contents.  So if that is a real concern, you can sign them.  But the real fun is to let it be a mystery!  It’s also a wonderful lesson for your children, that we can do kind things for others, and not need to get credit.

    Here is a free printable tag I made one year, that I am happy to share with you:   MAY DAY BASKET TAGS

PLANNING DELIVERIES

This year (2012), May Day falls on a (this) Tuesday.  Since we homeschool, we have always rearranged our school work for the day, and made our deliveries in the morning, usually between 9:00-11:00 a.m.  But if your kids are in school, evening delivery is just as acceptable!

    Before leaving home, plan out your delivery route, according to where your recipients live.  Knowing the order of stops ahead of time makes for smoother deliveries. 

   Also important is to plan ahead WHO will be running up to which doors, and running.  We have 4 kids.  So rather than they all go up to each door, risking injury and getting caught, by tripping over each other, they decided among themselves who would do which homes.  This saved any arguing about the matter in the vehicle too, which could really suck the fun out of it all!

 

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I especially loved one idea we had last year:  Making little flowering window sill tea cup plants.  Along with some perfect size Chicken Soup for the Soul books!  The above photo is all of the basket contents, pre-assembly.  The photo below is them all together.

 

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Naturally, every year around May Day, I have taken lots of photos, from basket assembling, to the secret deliveries themselves.  Going through those posts always make me smile.  Especially when the kids were so little! So if you care to, you are free to visit the previous years blog post links, and hopefully dig up some more inspiration, to deliver some love, yourselves.

  • 2008
  • 2009-1
  • 2009-2
  • 2010-2011 – Did not blog deliveries, but last year’s basket photos are shown above.

     Following May Day last year, we decided it was likely our last year of planning and delivering May Day Baskets.  Reason being, 1) the kids are getting a little too old (and big! for this particular serving in secret, and 2) after 4 years, we’re not such a secret anymore! When you start getting thank you cards in the mail, you know they’ve finally figured you out! ; )  But, the lessons have been good for our children, and there is nothing better than the feel-good-feeling, of giving in secret! Our hearts are always open to new ideas and ways in which we can serve others, as God calls us all to do.  The possibilities are endless, and there are always daily opportunities in our lives, and yours.

  Acts 20:35
“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

Matthew 25:40
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’



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May Day Baskets and The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord

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May baskets
(Our May Day Baskets)

May Day
by Evaleen Stein

Let us take our baskets early
To the meadows green,
While the wild-flowers still are pearly
With the dewdrops’ sheen.
Fill them full of blossoms rosy,
Violets and gay
Cowslips, every pretty posy
Welcoming the May.
Then our lovely loads we’ll carry
Down the village street,
On each door, with laughter merry,
Hang a basket sweet.
Hey-a-day-day! It is spring now,
Lazy folks, awake!
See the pretty things we bring now
For the May-day’s sake!

Doesn’t it figure that two days we planned to acknowledge, had to land on the same day!  So it made for a busy day for us.  But the kids fell asleep that night with smiling faces, and peaceful hearts.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we decided to teach the kids about May Day, and help them celebrate it the old fashioned way.  I’m not sure how many of you know the May Day Basket tradition, but I had an experience from my childhood that not only taught me what the day was about, but helped me remember it to this day.  It’s a story my kids ask me to tell them over and over. And lucky you…they insist I share it with you in this post as well.

I forget what grade I was in, but one year in elementary school, we made May Day Baskets in art class.  We were told that we were to leave it on the doorstep of an older loved one, to ring the doorbell, and run away and hide before the recipient opened the door and found the basket.  It was meant to bring joy to others, in celebration of springtime.

The only person I could think of, to leave my May Day Basket for, was my grandmother.  She was a very kind and well-intentioned grandmother, who lived in an elderly complex.  She was closer to my older sister than she was to me, but I loved her none the less in the years she was here.  The funny thing about her, to me, was that she could never remember my name.  She would always call me Susan.  It didn’t make me feel like the most loved grand-child in the world, but I understood somewhat where her confusion came from.  She did have a grand-daughter named Susan, who was my cousin of course. And it was better than the fact that she called my brother Jeffrey, because in his case, that was not his name either, and there was no Jeffrey at all in the family.  She was up there in age by this time, and sometimes it seemed she didn’t recognize us at all.

So the morning came to deliver my May Basket to Grandma.  I was a little worried about just leaving it on her doorstep and running away, because I knew she was a worrier, and it might scare her. I wondered too if she would even see it on the porch there,  because she had one of those solid white metal doors with the screen, and the step down to the porch was steep. So I brought my concerns to my mother.

My mother agreed that it might shake Grandma up, to open the door to find no one there.  And wondered too if she would notice the basket down on the porch.  So she asked me what I thought I should do about it.  I told her:

“Well, I thought maybe I should take the basket to her door, ring the doorbell, and when she answers, I could say “Hi Grandma, it’s me, Susan! Happy May Day!” and then give her the basket.

My mother laughed hysterically. And through the years she brought that story up again and again, never losing the humor she found in it.  So eventually I told that story to my oldest daughter, who is ALWAYS asking for another story from my childhood.  This one was bound to come up eventually–because honestly, I’m running out. (Or running low on memory.)  She loved the story, and laughed just as hard as my mother.  So she then asked me to tell our little ones my story, and they think it’s just as funny!  Now really, I do not think it is THAT funny, and you probably don’t either, but my kids wanted me to tell it, so there it is.  I hope it was worth a chuckle at least.  And if not, I hope the photos or rest of this post help make up for it. : )

So below are 2 photos of our kids assembling 2 May Day Baskets, for some older folks we know of.  Unfortunately, none of their grandparents are local, to be able to leave on their doorsteps.  So we chose an old couple who still live at the end of our street, where they actually raised their now grown 13 children! I think they have ump-teen grandchildren and great-grandchildren now, who all come to visit a lot. We also chose Sr. Jeremy from our parish, whose service and dedication to her vocation is truly inspiring. She is such a blessing to our parish family, and she loves children!

In the baskets the kids put what {A} shopped for the day before (with me of course):  Celestial Tea, Tea Biscuits, some chocolates, and some sugar-free hard candies.  They were such a team, and got the baskets together nicely.

May baskets
May baskets

Of course then I wanted another photo of them all together. In the photo below, they are all just recovering from a hardy belly-laugh. See, I thought they were being especially co-operative for the camera, with their big smiles, until they broke out with laughter.  Turns out, Daddy was behind me, pretending to lick my head.   NICE, huh?

May baskets

In the morning, we added the fresh flowers to the baskets, just before delivering them.  I know so many photos of this is not really necessary, but I couldn’t choose. I love each one of these images for different reasons. In the last one, {J} felt there was no room for the last flower, and decided to give it to his sister. Aawwww. <sniff>

  May baskets

May baskets

May baskets

May baskets

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Feast of the Ascension of the Lord

With this day being a Holy Day of Obligation, we had Mass to go to that evening.

So we ate dinner early and got there in plenty of time. It was a wonderful Mass, with an effective homily (as always) from our pastor. But what touched me most, was the part of the Mass when we say the Lord’s Prayer.  As a family, we have always held hands for this prayer.  We say it together on a daily basis for Devotion, and of course always at Mass, and I don’t remember ever not holding hands. With that being said, I know there are people and families who do not join hands.  In fact, some are quite against it.  We know and respect that it is each one’s choice, and it’s a personal preference for each person.  But we just do.

So that part of the Mass comes, and as always, we join hands. I was second to the inside end, and {S} was at the very end of our family, at the far inside.  A few feet away next to him was an older couple.  As we began the prayer, I saw out of the corner of my eye, him slowly turn his head to look to his right.  And suddenly, his little feet shuffled to the right, and he reached out to hold the older woman’s hand. I looked down at his sweet face, now looking forward again, as he mumbled the prayer—holding back that smile, as he always does when he is feeling a little shy, and a little pleased with himself, at the same time.   Apparently, he noticed that the older couple was holding hands too, and so he reached out to her.  I think the lady just about melted.  I know I did.  And I was really thankful she was open to his outreach, and the notion of holding a stranger’s hand, as we were gathered together in His name, and didn’t break his little heart.

It was a wonderful day all around.  We hope your May Day was just as sweet, and if you didn’t get a basket on your doorstep, look on the bright side:  Maybe no one thinks you are old enough yet.  : )  I’m happy to report, I didn’t get one either.

 

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